3 UK bankers implicated in Enron case surrender for extradition to US

CROYDON: Three former bankers surrendered to US marshals at a police station south of London on Thursday for extradition to the US to face fraud charges relating to collapsed energy company Enron.

David Bermingham, one of the three, who travelled to Croydon police station with his wife Emma, told reporters: "It's a sad day for you guys. I expect most of you are British so you got let down today by your own government."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected pleas to halt their extradition, while in a new twist to the saga, police investigated the death of a man reported by media to have been a former colleague of the men who was questioned in the case.

"A man died yesterday, I'll be coming home one day, he won't. Let's get some perspective," Mr Bermingham said. The extradition of the three — Mr Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew — is the first high-profile case under a new extradition treaty with the US in force since January '04.

It was designed to speed up extradition of terror suspects, but now the US, which has yet to ratify the treaty, is being accused of using it for white-collar crime.

The three bankers, who worked for NatWest Bank, now part of Royal Bank of Scotland, are alleged to have conspired with Enron executives, including former finance director Andrew Fastow, over the sale of a stake in an Enron entity in '00 for less than it was worth, which made them $7.3m.

They deny the allegations. They have sought to have their case heard in Britain rather than the US, but no legal proceedings have been launched against them in the UK.

Parliament held a rare emergency debate on Wednesday, where some members from Mr Blair's Labour Party joined opposition politicians in attacking the new treaty as unfair and lopsided.

Mr Blair, while defending the extradition treaty, earlier tried to placate members of parliament by telling them Washington had given assurances US prosecutors wouldn't oppose bail for the three.